News items: (a) SMC’s Ang: Construction of P735-B Bulacan airport to start by the end of 2019; (b) Naia rehab by PH tycoons finally gets the green light from gov’t body.
With due respect, nation-building is beyond anyone’s capacity, but the people. Rockefeller, to this day and at today’s prices, with wings clipped because of antitrust, remains the most significant wealth generator ever. [“On May 15, 1911, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it violated the Sherman Antitrust Act,” The New York Times, 15th May 2012.]
America became the most influential economy, not because of one person but because of how they created the New World and pursued nation-building. In one word, they had foresight – imbued with dynamism.
We cannot remain prisoners of our instincts that are static. We live in a runaway universe – that is in a constant forward-moving mode. We don’t even know billions of galaxies that are part of this universe, yet we believe we have the answers to our challenges. We never had them if we go over the decades and care to look outward to see how our neighbors left us behind.
Benchmark. Benchmark. Benchmark.
“Asia is increasingly the center of the world economy. By 2040, the region could account for more than half of global GDP and about 40 percent of global consumption.” [The future of Asia: Asian flows and networks are defining the next phase of globalization, McKinsey & Company, September 2019]
Then consider: “Outrageous solutions to real problems,” Elizabeth Angsioco, POWERPOINT, manilastandard.net, 5th Oct 2019.
“A barangay captain in Quezon City [believed] that frogs would help curb dengue by eating the mosquitoes. He then had at least 1,000 bullfrogs released in esteros. How about cleaning the esteros so the insects would not breed?
“Rep. Edgar Erice wants to ban private vehicles on EDSA. What good will this do? It will just reroute the traffic to secondary roads where people live, and more will be adversely affected. Banning private vehicles on EDSA can work IF public transport is efficient. In many countries, people do not need to regularly bring their cars because their public transportation system is reliable.
“Not to be outdone, the PNP Highway Patrol Group (HPG) is not only back on EDSA, but it has also even fielded ‘girlfriend material’ female ‘strike force’ to help ease traffic on EDSA. The women were hired significantly because of their good looks in the hope of ‘easing the stress’ felt by drivers caught in traffic. If this is not objectifying women and using them as ‘entertainment’ and distraction for men, I do not know what is.
“Quezon City Rep. Allan Benedict Reyes, who said that commuters, not private cars, will be given priority. He sees wider sidewalks that can also accommodate bikes and scooters. He imagines that people can walk from Cubao to Ortigas, which, according to him, is but a short walk.”
Let’s get back to nation-building. It is beyond Economics as well. Consider: “When economists ruled the world,” The Economist, 31st Aug 2019. The numbers guys have a lot to answer.
“Often, their theories operated on the assumption that the self-interested actions of the rich would benefit everyone, even as those self-interested rich used the same economists to pursue their agenda. The end of the economists’ hour has created a room within the field for views that long struggled to get a hearing. However, in an age of nativism and protectionism, other ways of seeing the world now predominate. It may be some time before the dismal science gets a chance to set things right.”
In the case of the Philippines, we should not be surprised – given that for decades, we took the wrong turn at every fork in the road – that we are both lost and disoriented. That we are in the 21st century doesn’t mean anything anymore though we fear progress will only make our world unwelcoming.
Since we’re between a rock and a hard place, our only recourse is the knee jerk.
In other words, we are continually fire-fighting that we don’t recognize we’re standing on quicksand. Because we never established the platform for nation-building, we are preoccupied, with (a) how to fix Edsa to as far as (b) screaming sovereignty. Imagine how wide the gap is between our world and reality.
Of course, we value our sovereignty. Then consider: “Revisiting Hitler, in a new authoritarian age,” Talya Zax, The New York Times, 29th Sept 2019. “The questions that Hitler was addressing — inequality, migration, the challenge of international capitalism — they’re as salient as they were when he set out to provide his peculiarly destructive and demented answers. In a very alarming and upsetting way, Hitler is less strange today than he was 20 or 30 years ago.
“For historians working on the history of National Socialism, [t]here’s ‘a feeling of obligation to intervene in current debates.’ The timing of history is delicate, and the life of Hitler remains one of the most incomprehensible examples of how quickly the touch of the wrong person, at the wrong time, can shatter an order that appeared stable.”
Translation: Ours is a culture of impunity; no one denies that. Except that, at our convenience, we speak from both sides of the mouth. We rail against corruption, patronage, oligarchy, and autocracy one moment; and the next, we scream sovereignty. Unsurprisingly, we created a Marcos. Do we want to reprise it with Duterte?
Sadly, given our parochialism and insularity and value of hierarchy and paternalism, we can’t seem to fathom what the community and the common good is. What more the community of nations? Of course, we’re not alone, i.e., “tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell who you are.”
Before we get too far, let’s get down to the basics of nation-building: “Nation-building is constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state. Nation-building aims at the unification of the people within the land so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long run.
“According to Columbia University political scientist Andreas Wimmer, three factors tend to determine the success of nation-building over the long-run: the early development of civil society organizations, the rise of a state capable of providing public goods, and the emergence of a shared medium of communication." [Wikipedia]
In other words, we must develop institutions and a state capable of providing the common good. That is why the blog tirelessly references our instincts: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism, rely on political patronage and oligarchy, that at the end of the day, ours is a culture of impunity.
The bottom line: We cannot develop institutions and a state capable of providing the common good because our instincts undermine foresight and dynamism. See above re our neighbors left us behind.
Benchmark. Benchmark. Benchmark.
“Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? Moreover, that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to tyranny loves it.” [We are ruled by Rizal’s ‘tyrants of tomorrow,’ Editorial, The Manila Times, 29th Dec 2015]
“Now I know why Paul dared to speak of ‘the curse of the law’ (Galatians 3:13). Law reigns and discernment is unnecessary, which means there is little growth or change in such people. When you do not grow, you remain an infant.” [Faith and Science, Open to Change, Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, 23rd Oct 2017]
“As a major component for the education and reorientation of our people, mainstream media – their reporters, writers, photographers, columnists, and editors – have an obligation to this country . . .” [Era of documented irrelevance: Mainstream media, critics and protesters, Homobono A. Adaza, The Manila Times, 25th Nov 2015]
“National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country's natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency’s value, as classical economics insists. [A] nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade.” [The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, March–April 1990]
“You have to have a dream, whether big or small. Then plan, focus, work hard, and be very determined to achieve your goals.” [Henry Sy Sr., Chairman Emeritus and Founder, SM Group (1924 - 2019)]
“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” [William Pollard, 1911-1989, physicist-priest, Manhattan Project]
“Development [is informed by a people’s] worldview, cognitive capacity, values, moral development, self-identity, spirituality, and leadership . . .” [Frederic Laloux, Reinventing organizations, Nelson Parker, 2014]
No comments:
Post a Comment